Double Hills

At 10.25 am on Sunday 17th September 1944 a Dakota Horsa combination took off from R.A.F. Keevil Wiltshire, the spearhead of the first lift to Arnhem. The occupants of the glider were 2 glider pilots of the Glider Pilot Regiment and a unit of Royal Engineers. At 11.05 am an explosion occurred in the glider which caused it to break tow and crash to the ground killing all occupants. These were therefore the First Casualties of Arnhem.

In the early 70′s a committee was formed by Peter Yeates, who at the time of the crash was aged 7 years and lived in the Paulton area, with a view to erecting a memorial on the site of the crash – known as Double Hills. The dedicated work of the Double Hills Committee came to fruition when on the 23rd September 1979 the memorial stone was dedicated and the first memorial service held. Since that date an annual service is held to commemorate the tragedy. The land on which the memorial stands is owned by HRH The Prince of Wales. He generously assigned the land, under Trust Deed to Peter Yeates, Chairmen of the Double Hills Committee in company with Lt. Col. Nicholls, Chairman of The Glider Pilot Regimental Association.

Major General R.E. Urquhart at the unveiling of the memorial in 1979. Seen here with Major General Cowtan, representing the Royal Engineers and Peter Yeates who founded the memorial.

Double Hills commemoration Service 7th September 2008 and unveiling of bronze statues of a Glider Pilot & Airborne Royal Engineer

The service opened with a fly past of aircraft from Middle Wallop

W/O ‘Lofty’ Linthwaite, AAC

The ‘new’ enhanced Double Hills Memorial (left) the Glider Pilot and (right) the Airborne Royal Engineer

Brig. D S Short, CBE, ADC, Director of Army Aviation with Major Stephen D. Grace, U.S. Air Force

Sculptor Roy Cleeves seen with his creation and Double Hills President Brig. Mike Dauncey

Arthur Underwood & Bill Higgs

A poem written by Ruby Bowell, a Paulton nurse who, in 1944, attended the scene of the crash.

“They did not die in battles dinOf world renown,Or a medal win,But gave their lives for you and me,so that we and the whole world might be free”